10 tips to stay injury free this running season

Staying Injury Free RunningQueensland running season is in full swing with the GC marathon done and dusted, the Brisbane Marathon Festival close by along with Bridge to Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast Marathon all within the month of August. Remember not every runner will benefit from the same things so if you are dealing with a running related injury it’s advisable to seek advice and/or treatment from a physiotherapist.

Here are 10 tips to stay injury free this running season:

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ITB Friction Syndrome - A Runners Nightmare

Summer is upon us and with that thousands of people are taking to the streets and running. One of the main complaints we see with runners is ITB friction syndrome. The iliotibial band is a fibrous band that runs down the outside of the thigh attaching just below the knee. It crosses a bony point called the lateral femoral condyle just to the outside of the knee and here it can rub, causing a frictioning resulting in pain. This rubbing can occur, amongst other things, because of poor biomechanics. It is often related to poor foot control, a rolling in of the hip and knee due to poor strength (usually of the gluteal, or buttock, muscles) and an overuse and tightness in the muscles at the outside of the thigh. So what can you do?

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KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS AND RUNNING MYTHBUSTING

knee osteoarthritis and running benefitsIt is a common perception that running can lead to knee osteoarthritis (OA), running can worsen knee OA or that running may increase the likelihood of needing a total knee replacement. Read on to find out all the facts and myths!

What is knee osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is a type of arthritis that causes joint pain and impairs movement, most frequently at the hips, knees, feet and hands.  The knee joint is made of a joint where the top of the lower leg, the tibia, meets the bone of the upper leg, the femur in the tibiofemoral joint.  There is also a joint between your knee cap, the patella, and the thigh bone, the femur, underneath. This is known as the patella-femoral joint.  A normal joint has smooth cartilage coating the ends of each bone and a good space existing between the bones, the joint space. An osteoarthritic knee has a breakdown of this cartilage, osteophytes, or bony outgrowths or spurs making the surfaces rough and uneven, and a loss of joint space. Sometimes pain can eventuate, although people with knee osteoarthritis can also be pain free.

 

What is the treatment for osteoarthritis: shouldn’t you stop running if you have knee osteoarthritis?

A combination of weight loss, regular exercise, and physiotherapy can help reduce stress on the joints, build strength and improve function. Other treatments can also include medication, injections and surgical intervention.  However the best first treatment for osteoarthritis remains with physiotherapy. 

Many people with knee osteoarthritis think they have to stop exercise, especially impact exercise, and this includes running.  The research says something quite different, don’t think you have to stop running just because you have knee osteoarthritis. Yes you might need to modify things, but that’s where your physiotherapist will help advise and guide you.

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Running Injuries In Adolescents

Running injuries in adolescentsRunning is ranked as one of the top 3 activities that adolescents (10-19 year olds) partake in.  There is a lot known about running related injuries in adults, but unfortunately often this research is then applied to running injuries in adolescents. Yet they are very different to adults and need to be treated as a specialist subgroup.

One of the problems is that “maturation” needs to be considered rather than age. You can have two 14 year old’s whose bodies are at two very different points of development – specific questioning will help your professional gauge where they are at in this maturation process - the outcome of this can mean quite different management.

Overuse injuries rank highly in running injuries in adolescents, particularly to the bone and soft tissues (eg tendinopathies) in this age group. Boys and girls can differ slightly. Girls can be more prone to bone stress related injuries – image and weight can put external pressures on girls and increased training loads in an undernutritioned state can cause major issues.

A key issue in this age-group can be growth.  Growth spurts mean bigger, heavier, longer bones. 

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Running injuries: what to do? Should you stop running? Will everyone benefit from a running assessment?

running injuries and what you should do trail runnerRunning injuries can occur in different areas of the leg and can vary from a muscle strain, to tendinopathy, to a bone stress fracture……and they don’t always mean you have to stop running. Despite the odd ankle sprain, the majority of running injuries are due to overload. Overload means doing more than your current capacity can cope with.

Why do Running injuries occur?

Spikes, or sudden increases in training loads are usually the culprit in causing running injuries. Understanding what load means in the running context is important if you are to manage your running program well and run pain free.

Running Injuries and load increase

What is an increase in load? This may be

  • a sudden increase in pace or doing more speed training,
  • adding hills training,
  • starting to run with a running partner (who runs faster than you, which you make you push your training harder),
  • new shoes,
  • returning from a break with no running such as holidays or if recovering from an injury or illness.

KEY POINT: Any changes in your running program or how you run need to be done slowly and progressively, to avoid a running injury.

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